Prime Minister Mark Carney is standing by his speech at the World Economic Forum last week, despite claims from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration that he “aggressively” walked back some of his comments during a phone call. “To be absolutely clear, and I said this to the president. I mean what I said in Davos,” Carney said to reporters on...
Nearly nine months after being elected federally, Conservative MP Chak Au has submitted his resignation from his other job as a municipal councillor in Richmond, B.C. His resignation will take effect Feb. 1. Mr. Au has served as a city councillor since 2011, and was elected as a member of Parliament for the British Columbia riding of Richmond Centre-Marpole in April.
Trusted-traveller applications have halved since Trump returned to the White House. The number of Canadian applications for the Nexus trusted-traveller program has fallen off a cliff since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. Applications had been steadily increasing following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)...
Federal public servants used to be a sure thing for Pat Nicastro’s fine-food shop in Ottawa’s Byward Market. He used to be able to count on a lot of them who work in nearby offices to come in for lunch, a group that was a sizable part of the customer mix that has sustained La Bottega for about 30 years...
Petition drives calling for a referendum on Alberta separating from Canada have been held across the province in recent weeks, everywhere from small communities and rural halls, and now to Calgary for the first time. Outside the Big Four Roadhouse at a signing event in Calgary, a lineup formed as people waited to add their names to the petition.
Concern about Trump/US relations is on the rise, up six points in four weeks. Jobs/the economy remains the top national issue of concern. There is a four-point gap between the Liberals and the Conservatives in ballot support. While Carney is ahead of Poilievre in the preferred PM by 28 percentage points.
Between January 12 and 16, 2026, Abacus Data surveyed 2,008 Canadian adults as part of a special polling series examining public opinion about the Conservative Party of Canada and its leader, Pierre Poilievre.
Much of this week and next week will see Conservative Party partisans gathering in Calgary at the party convention and in Ottawa to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Stephen Harper’s election and swearing-in as Canada’s 22nd prime minister. These will be two weeks for Canada’s conservative movement, filled with reflections on past successes and examining today’s challenges. Much of the...
I regret to inform you that it is necessary to pay attention to Steve Bannon because he has plans for Canada and, unfortunately, he has repeatedly shown that he can make bad things happen. Bannon will go down in history as the man who discovered the power of the “sh*tpost,” and who showed that an online army of incels and...
Surrounded by global elites and influencers, Mark Carney stepped on the global stage and crystallized what many had been thinking: it’s time to accept that the world order of the last 80 years has dramatically and permanently changed. It’s a “rupture,” Carney told the World Economic Forum audience at Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 20, “not a transition.” The “rules-based international...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford appears to have had a change of heart when it comes to the federal government’s auto strategy after hearing more about it from federal officials. “I also want to thank Minister (Mélanie) Joly for coming up with a great auto strategy that the minister has put together that we’re going to be part of,” Ford said...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s well-crafted and eloquently delivered speech at Davos has been widely noted, and I want to start by offering some praise of my own. The Prime Minister is right to restate what many have said for years: Canada must become more self-reliant, less dependent and work with like-minded countries to advance our interests. Conservatives are, as always...
FOR MY PARTY—the Conservative Party of Canada—2025 was an annus horribilis. We suffered a string of strategic missteps, failed to break through to voters on the issues that dominated the national conversation, and paid the price in both public confidence and political momentum. I won’t revisit every episode here, but we must acknowledge the reality of a very difficult year...
WHAT IF, IN THE RUINS of the liberal international order, the world is spiralling back not to the fascist 1930s, not to the gunboat imperialism of the late nineteenth century, but all the way back to the rule of warrior princes, and their predatory cliques, in early modern Europe?
Canada’s outgoing ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman, had to politely remind Americans over the weekend that Alberta separatism is a domestic issue and not something that Donald Trump’s people should be encouraging. Hillman was on the CBS TV show “Face the Nation” when she was asked about comments last week from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said...
There is a reason why the United States and Canada consider China a “non-market economy.” Beijing, rather than market forces, determines production and prices. Since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2000, it has been able to access Western markets, without offering reciprocal access. A very good case study is currently before the Canadian finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne.
In 1935, American author Sinclair Lewis published It Can’t Happen Here, a dystopian novel about the rise of a populist demagogue named Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, who becomes the U.S. president after cultivating a cult following for his nationalism, anti-elitism, and quixotic promises. Windrip was fixated on restoring domestic production of material goods and hated the press.
The old world is dying and a new era of global instability beckons. But first, the groceries. "For many Canadians, the cost of groceries and everyday essentials has been too high for too long. They need more support now," Prime Minister Mark Carney conceded on Monday morning, speaking at a grocery store in Ottawa, almost exactly a week removed from...
Mark Carney’s speeches last week in Davos and Québec City should be read as a single argument. One addresses the world, the other our nation, but together they articulate a governing credo that seeks to integrate Canadian foreign and domestic policy more tightly than at any time since the early Cold War. Carney’s starting point is blunt. The postwar order...
A few months ago, the PM spoke of sacrifice as Canada realigned around new priorities. The same theme popped up in a Globe and Mail story last week about planning work at Canadian Defence HQ about how to resist, via an insurgency, an American attack. The key line to me in that story was this: 'Conscription has been ruled out...
Prime Minister Carney delivered a very good speech this week in Davos and Canadians should be proud of it. His speech was well received at home and abroad for both its content and its measured delivery. I know this personally because I have heard from friends from inside and outside of Canada. In fact, I was in Mexico for a...
Politicians rarely say anything very interesting in speeches. At most, there might be a kernel of news slipped in between the banalities and outpourings of self-congratulation.
Months ago, as Prime Minister Mark Carney was embarking on his marathon negotiations with the U.S. government, he indicated that he preferred dealing with trade and security as a package. In practice, the paths that have developed seem to be trade talks that focus on tariffs and security decisions that focus on a significant increase in defence spending. For the...
When Mark Carney flirted with the Liberal leadership on the set of Jon Stewart’s ”The Daily Show,” he tried on the “outsider” label. “Young sneaky; you’re running as an outsider,” said Stewart. “I am an outsider,” Carney replied. I argued then that Canadians wouldn’t buy the outsider pitch. Positioning yourself as an “outsider” while having served as a top economic...
In the final days before the last election, Mark Carney decided to have a little fun with some hecklers who were dogging him on the campaign trail in Nova Scotia. Carney, who was being cast as a dangerous “globalist” in some conservative circles, interrupted his remarks to address the hecklers. “It’s OK, we’ll get to the World Economic Forum in...
While Ontario Premier Doug Ford sharply opposed the federal government’s plan to allow 49,000 Chinese EVs into Canada at a low tariff rate — calling it lopsided and warning it would threaten Canada’s domestic industry — Prime Minister Mark Carney was quick to counter.
I am writing these words on Robbie Burns’s birthday, in a snowbound New York City. My reason for travelling here was to join in discussions taking place on the 80th anniversary of the first meeting in London of the Economic and Social Council ECOSOC, the United Nations charter body created to focus attention on the economic and social challenges of...
Mark Carney’s Davos speech was billed as foreign policy. Fair enough. But it also feels like something you could easily imagine being the basis for an early election call.
Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke purposefully at Davos this past week about adopting a more nationalistic policy for Canada. Less persuasive was his call for a league of so-called middle powers to combine to influence the superpowers to set up what he called, in the current tedious jargon, ”a rules-based international order.” He is vaguely addressing, without recognizing directly, the...
Before Mark Carney spoke in Davos, French President Emmanuel Macron was on the same stage lamenting that the world is shifting to a place without rules, where the strongest dominate, pleading for a return to global co-operation. After Mr. Carney’s speech, U.S. President Donald Trump talked about dominating other countries, claiming he forced Mr. Macron to double French drug prices...
The phrase "rules-based international order" became popular among Canadian leaders starting in 2017. It is not exactly poetry, but it was meant to mean something — shorthand for the web of multilateral acronyms (the UN, the WTO, the IMF, NATO, the G7, the G20, NAFTA, among others) that arose in the wake of the Second World War, all of it...
There is a consensus both abroad and in Canada that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s January 20 speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos was highly successful in resetting the conversation on geopolitics and trade in the face of Donald Trump’s aggressive policies and rhetoric. But if Carney became a global geopolitical sensation after his Davos address, two days later...
The War of the Greenlandic Accession appears to have ended before it began, the President of the United States having supposedly negotiated a deal on the island’s future with the Secretary-General of NATO, a deal that a) no one can describe in any detail, b) neither of them has any mandate to negotiate and c) appears to amount to a...
My goodness, how the world — or at least the anti-Trump part of it — has fallen in love with Mark Carney’s Davos speech. A fairly typical example: in the New York Times, columnist David French hails what he calls the “Carney Doctrine” and says his speech “might be the most important address of Trump’s second term so far.”
Mark Carney’s now-legendary speech at the World Economic Forum inspired thousands of Canadians, impressed his fellow world leaders, and triggered an entirely predictable temper tantrum from Donald Trump. But maybe the most impressive thing it did was shut Pierre Poilievre up for a couple of days.
Power & Politics' Political Pulse Panel breaks down duelling speeches at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week.
Former cabinet minister, scientist and champion for safe sport Kirsty Duncan has died at the age of 59. Duncan had made public her multiple operations, radiation and chemotherapy to treat her cancer since she was diagnosed in 2023. Born on Oct. 31, 1966, Duncan was elected five times as the Liberal MP for the Toronto riding of Etobicoke North between...
Advocates of more federal transparency are concerned a federal review of the Access to Information regime will not fix long-standing problems, and that it could even make things worse. The Treasury Board Secretariat announced the government review, which takes place every five years, in a news release last June. For a $5 fee, people can use the access law to...
Canada is set to name its first foreign interference commissioner. Speaking to CBC News on his way out of question period, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said he sent a letter to opposition parties on Monday to advise them of the government's choice for commissioner. "As of an hour ago, we have written to the opposition party leaders with a...
Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Mark Carney appeared to patch up their differences on trade Monday over a slice of pizza. Meeting for the first time in weeks, the two men smiled for cameras and spoke to some local kids enjoying a snow day at a Pizza Nova location in Etobicoke. “We’re all about Team Canada,” Ford told...
Prime Minister Mark Carney says his government “focused on results for Canadians,” and is not considering a snap election. On Monday, Carney announced a boost to the GST credit, as part of a suite of new affordability measures, in a grocery-store press conference reminiscent of election-time campaign stops. Longtime cabinet minister and former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland also resigned...
Proposed changes to the GST credit announced Monday by Prime Minister Mark Carney should provide some relief for lower-income Canadians, but experts caution it may not account for future surges in the cost of living. Carney unveiled a 25 per cent hike to the GST credit in a temporary move set to last for five years, billed as a measure...
South Korean submarine maker Hanwha Oceans says it has signed a series of partnership agreements with Canadian companies, including Sault Ste. Marie's tariff-battered Algoma Steel. Hanwha says it signed a memorandum of understanding with Algoma that pledges $275 million in financial support to stand up a new structural steel beam mill in Canada. The pact also declares Hanwha's intention to...
OTTAWA -- Public Safety Canada says gun owners reported 22,251 firearms to the federal government in the first week of a program to provide compensation for banned guns.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada's "principled pragmatism" in foreign policy will be on full display next week in Greenland when she opens Canada's new consulate in the Danish territory with Inuit representatives attending and a coast guard vessel in the background. "We will continue to be principled and we will be pragmatic at the same time," Anand told...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is standing by his comments about the Battle of the Plains of Abraham that drew a swift rebuke from Quebec's political class. The controversy erupted last week when Carney said the 1759 battle in Quebec City -- during which the British defeated the French -- symbolized the beginning of a partnership between two peoples.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he had a “very productive” meeting with the prime minister on Monday afternoon after days of criticizing his trip to China. Ford’s relationship with Mark Carney has been strained in recent days, after Canada agreed to allow 49,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles into the country in return for an easing of tariffs on agricultural products. The...
OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Mark Carney defended the Canadian military's contributions to the war in Afghanistan today, but stopped short of asking U.S. President Donald Trump to apologize for belittling Canada's role.
Government House leader Steven MacKinnon said Monday he believes the minority Parliament can function and pass bills -- if Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre agrees to "get out of the way." Poilievre, meanwhile, shared online Saturday a letter he wrote to Prime Minister Mark Carney that says he is willing to work with the government to pass legislation on crime, affordability...
VANCOUVER -- The United States Department of Homeland Security is planning to buy a building owned by the property arm of Vancouver-based conglomerate Jim Pattison Group to use as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement "processing facility."
Measures include $500 million in capital investment funding for food businesses, $20 million for food banks. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a suite of affordability measures on Monday that he says will help Canadian families struggling to cope with the rising cost of living. The flagship measure in Monday's announcement is the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, which Carney said...
Prime Minister Mark Carney says it's no coincidence U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariffs threat against Canada comes just ahead of negotiations on renewing North America's main free-trade pact. In a weekend social media post in which he referred to Carney as "governor," Trump threatened to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods if Ottawa reaches a trade deal...
With Parliament resuming after the winter break, Prime Minister Mark Carney has unveiled a boost to the GST credit as part of a suite of new affordability measures. Carney made the announcement in Ottawa on Monday, launching what’s called the “Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit.” The quarterly GST payments will see an increase of 25 per cent over the next...
Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame member Paul Brandt appeared to signal that he has a soundtrack for the Alberta separatist movement. Brandt posted a photo of himself on social media late Saturday walking down a highway with the lyrics to his iconic 2004 tune “Alberta Bound” superimposed over the photo.
Two thirds think the Conservatives should replace Poilievre, including 27% of Conservative voters. Since a noticeable dip in November, approval levels for the Carney government have reversed course and sit at 64% nationally. Approval is over 66% in every region but Alberta, where it stands at 57%. Approval is over 60% with every age group. These are results from the...
Federal departments are highlighting that planned job cuts will also affect senior managers as thousands of public servants receive letters informing them that their positions might be eliminated. Deputy ministers from several departments have sent e-mails to staff in recent days that break down targets for job reductions for both executive and non-executive members.
Diplomat says U.S. fighter jets would enter Canadian airspace more often to address threats. U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy to Ottawa is warning of consequences to the continental defence pact if Canada does not move forward with the purchase of 88 F-35 fighter jets. "NORAD would have to be altered," U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra told CBC News in...
A “train wreck” of issues on the global stage and the looming question of sovereignty in both Alberta and Quebec are likely to make the winter session of Parliament “very consequential,” with many Canadians also looking to Prime Minister Mark Carney for strength in handling international issues like trade and domestic issues such as affordability, according to political pundits.
The quarterly payments will increase by 25 per cent over the next five years. Prime Minister Mark Carney will try to reset his domestic agenda Monday with an affordability announcement that will include generous top-ups to the GST credit this summer, impacting approximately 12 million Canadians, the Star has learned. Carney is set to announce that the quarterly GST payments...
In cutting China deal and deriding economic coercion, prime minister opts for ‘hardball’ approach as crucial trade talks loom
SAINT-HYACINTHE -- Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon says the referendum campaign for Quebec independence is already underway.
SAINT-HYACINTHE -- A future Parti Quebecois government would not rule out oil or gas pipeline projects in Quebec.
U.S. President Donald Trump doubled down on his recent jabs at Canada by saying “Canada is systematically destroying itself” and calling “the China deal” a “disaster.” “Will go down as one of the worst deals, of any kind, in history,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday afternoon. “All their businesses are moving to the USA. I wanted to see Canada...
Opposition members say they will press Prime Minister Mark Carney to back up his bold words about Canada's future with concrete action as Parliament resumes Monday after the holiday break. Carney returns to the front bench of the House of Commons after travelling the globe to spur exports and drum up investment from new sources amid deep uncertainty about Canada's...
Prime Minister Mark Carney insists Canada is not seeking a free trade deal with China, just one day after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened a 100 per cent tariff on Canadian goods, if it were to pursue one. “We have no intention of doing that with China or any other non-market economy,” Carney told reporters ahead of a Liberal caucus...
You don’t need to look much further than Pierre Poilievre’s social media to see the sort of dilemma the Conservative leader is facing. Earlier this month, he praised U.S. President Donald Trump for his extraordinary capture of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro. Two weeks later, he condemned the same president’s threats to acquire sovereign Greenland and backed Canada’s obligations as...
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Trump administration has not shied away from sharing AI-generated imagery online, embracing cartoonlike visuals and memes and promoting them on official White House channels.
Prominent Republicans and gun rights advocates helped elicit a White House turnabout this week after bristling over the administration's characterization of Alex Pretti, the second U.S. citizen and protester killed this month by a federal officer in Minneapolis, as responsible for his own death because he lawfully possessed a weapon.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A lawyer for the immigration officer who shot and killed Renee Good dropped out of the Minnesota governor race Monday, breaking with many fellow Republicans and calling President Donald Trump's immigration operation in the state an "unmitigated disaster."
Leaders of law enforcement organizations expressed alarm Sunday over the latest deadly shooting by federal officers in Minneapolis while use-of-force experts criticized the Trump administration's justification of the killing, saying bystander footage contradicted its narrative of what prompted it.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada's "principled pragmatism" in foreign policy will be on full display next week in Greenland when she opens Canada's new consulate in the Danish territory with Inuit representatives attending and a coast guard vessel in the background. "We will continue to be principled and we will be pragmatic at the same time," Anand told...
In cutting China deal and deriding economic coercion, prime minister opts for ‘hardball’ approach as crucial trade talks loom
Ryan Wedding, a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder allegedly behind one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations, was arrested, two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation told NBC News on Friday.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum "political noise" and criticized Canada's recent deal with China today. Speaking on Bloomberg TV, Lutnick said Canada has "the second-best deal in the world" and accused Carney of complaining.
China's ambassador in Ottawa says Prime Minister Mark Carney's claim that Beijing is about to lift its visa requirement for Canadians is not yet official, suggesting the move is still under consideration. "I did notice that Prime Minister Carney made it public that the Chinese side told him that China is actively considering giving unilateral visa-free treatment to Canadian citizens,"...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to China will stand as one of the most consequential moments in Canada’s foreign policy. It not only reframed Canada’s relationship with China but also signalled a fundamentally new approach to how Ottawa intends to navigate a more fragmented, contested and uncertain world. On the bilateral front, the trip produced three tangible outcomes: a new...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) gets a lot of flak for its processing of Access to Information Act (ATIA) requests, especially for its long delays to respond. But lately they’ve been doing a few things right.
A thorough media scan reveals practically no discussion about this important escalation, which would put Canada among only a few Western navies (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) that operate submarine-launched land-attack weapons.
You may want to dust off your Bescherelles, Canadian politicos: the battle for the future of Québec is where things are going to happen in 2026. In case you missed it, today the new leader of the Québec Liberal Party, Pablo Rodriguez, announced his resignation. His resignation was precipitated by a terrible, scandalous month for the QLP — one that...
And yet, for a brief moment, it felt like Canada was riding high on the world stage, with Mark Carney holding court in Davos at the World Economic Forum. So… which version of Canada is real right now? The confident global player, or the country once again bracing for Trump’s mood swings?
As we said on Good Talk, everything changed last week Is the government, and are Canadians, ready for the situation we now find ourselves in with the United States. What happens now is the question for Janice Stein in her regular Monday appearance on The Bridge.
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump set off a firestorm with comments dismissing the military contributions of fellow NATO members during the war in Afghanistan. This follows the president’s aggressive bid for Greenland, a self-governing territory of NATO-ally Denmark, which brought into question whether NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, could survive without America, its strongest and richest member...
After exclaiming that a reality where Greenland isn't owned by the US wasn't possible, President Trump has seemed to take the gloves off and use an approach he hasn't necessarily been reaching for lately - diplomacy.
